Roller cleaning assembly

ABSTRACT

A roller cleaning assembly for a grass processing apparatus, such as a grass or turf roller, has a roller housing releasably mountable in a hollow cavity in the body of a smoothing head, where the smoothing head contains idler or smoothing rollers. A pair of roller brushes is rotatably journalled in the roller housing, and are driven by the idler or smoothing rollers via friction drive rollers. Each brush roller has at least one spiral brush and/or spiral wiper blade to clean the external surfaces of the adjacent idler or smoothing rollers and deposits the clippings or other waste in collector sections in the roller housing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of International ApplicationNo. PCT/AU2010/001237, filed 21 Sep. 2010, which claims the benefit ofApplication No. 2009905029, filed in Australia on 15 Oct. 2009, thedisclosures of which Applications are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a roller cleaning assembly which is suitablefor, but not limited to, use with rollers for rolling the turf of grasssurfaces such as bowling greens, golfing greens and tennis courts formedfrom grass.

It will also be appreciated that the term “grass or turf” used hereinalso includes artificial greens or turf surfaces.

The term “grass processing apparatus” shall include, but not be limited,grass- or lawn mowers; grass or turf rollers; mower- and rollercombinations; roller- and spiker combinations; and like grass or turfpreparation and/or maintenance equipment.

2. Prior Art

Hitherto, cleaning brushes have often been mounted on a roller attachedto a lawn mower frame, and were used to clean grass clippings and debrisfrom an external surface of a drive roller used in conjunction withrotary cutting blades in the form of a reel also attached to the lawnmower frame. The brush roller was also driven by drive means such as adrive gear assembly powered by a motor mounted to the frame. In onecase, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,735, the drive gear assemblyincluded a drive gear driven by the motor of a driven gear fixed withthe brush roller and a smoothing gear for transmitting rotational motionfrom the drive gear to the driven gear.

Reference may also be made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,996 (Bartlett et al);U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,277 (Smith et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,433(Westbrook et al) which all relate to roller brushes for sweeping anadjacent drive roller of a lawn mower where the roller brush is subjectto operation of a drive motor for rotation. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,996,the roller brush is driven by a belt driven from a sheave fixed to areel sheave. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,277 the roller brush can be drivento rotate in the same direction as the drive roller, or be drivencounter to the rotation of the roller housing. In U.S. Pat. No.6,024,433, the roller brush is subject to being driven from a beltdrive, having automatic adjustment, which extends between a reel of thelawn mower and the roller brush.

Therefore, in a summary of the prior art, the use of a drive motor andassociated pulleys, or sprockets, or gearing, to drive a roller brush toclean an adjacent roller, is expensive to manufacture and/or difficultto install or dismantle. It is also time consuming and inefficient inoperation, as the clippings often drop to the ground, which isespecially damaging if grub or moth larvae are carried on the clippingsas they can cause disease(s) in the grass or turf.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a rollercleaning assembly which overcomes, or at least alleviates to someextent, the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.

It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide a rollercleaning assembly which is particularly suitable for, but not limited,to grass processing machines of the types described and illustrated inU.S. Pat. No. 5,468,267 (Dufty); U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,903 (Dufty) andU.S. 2009/0129865 A1 (=WO 2008/052272) (Dufty); the disclosures(including the description and drawings) of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

The roller cleaning assembly of the invention is suitable for a rolleror rollers of a grass processing apparatus of the type having at leastone smoothing head, the or each smoothing head having a body with atleast one idler or smoothing roller rotatably journalled in a hollowcavity in the body, the roller cleaning assembly including:

a brush roller housing locatable in the hollow cavity in the body;

at least one brush roller rotatably journalled in the brush rollerhousing and located adjacent at least one of the idler or smoothingrollers and having a similar length to said at least one of the idler orsmoothing rollers and oriented parallel thereto;

at least one brush or flexible wiper blade extending from the or eachbrush roller and operable to engage an external surface of the adjacentidler or smoothing roller or rollers; and

a friction drive system interconnecting the or each brush roller and theadjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers;

so arranged that as the or each idler or smoothing roller is rotated asthe smoothing head is advanced, the external surface of the or eachidler or smoothing roller drives the adjacent brush roller, through thefriction drive system, to cause the at least one brush or flexible wiperblade to remove clippings or other waste material from the externalsurface of the or each idler or smoothing roller or rollers.

The, or each, brush may have fibres formed of natural or syntheticmaterials; while the, or each, flexible wiper blade may be formed, e.g.by extrusion, from elastomeric materials, such as natural rubber,synthetic rubber, plastic-material or the like, which may incorporatereinforcing cords or fibres.

More preferably, the brush or cleaning member may be at least one spiralbrush, or at least one flexible wiper blade, mounted on a supportroller; or may be at least one elongate brush, or at least one flexiblewiper blade, having a support axle extending therethrough; which ispreferably mounted in a brush housing which, in turn, is releasablyattachable to the grass processing apparatus.

Preferably, the brush housing may be provided with suitable bearings ateach end to facilitate rotation of the at least one brush or the atleast one flexible wiper blade.

Preferably, where there is a plurality (e.g. 2-3) of the brushes orflexible wiper blades located in the brush housing, each brush orflexible wiper blade may project through a respective elongate slotlocated in the brush housing.

Preferably, a collector section, to receive the clippings, is providedadjacent each brush or flexible wiper blade, or between an adjacent pairof the brushes or flexible wiper blades.

The brush housing may be mountable in the grass processing apparatus inany suitable manner. For example, the brush housing may be insertedthrough an adjacent aperture of a smoothing head or undercarriage whichmay have a plurality of smoothing rollers used for rolling a grasssurface. The rollers may be unevenly spaced, as described in U.S. Pat.No. 5,468,267 (Dufty). However, it will also be appreciated that therollers may be evenly spaced. Another example of an undercarriage towhich the brush of the present invention may be applied is AustralianPatent 522301 (=AU 197833622 A1) (Malowton Pty Ltd).

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the smoothing head asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,267 has an end plate which is modifiedwith an access aperture for insertion of the brush housing. The accessaperture may have a peripheral shape that is complementary to a sideplate of the brush housing and the brush housing may be releasablyretained within the undercarriage in any suitable manner such as by theuse of suitable fasteners engaging with corresponding aligned aperturesprovided on both the brush housing and the smoothing head.

The grass processing apparatus to which the roller cleaning assembly ofthe invention may be applied includes lawn mowers, lawn rollers, lawnslicers; and the rollers being cleaned by the roller cleaning assemblyof the invention may be drive rollers or idler or smoothing rollers asthe case may be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To enable the invention to be fully understood, reference will now bemade to a preferred embodiment of the roller cleaning assembly of theinvention as illustrated in the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an “exploded” perspective of the roller cleaning assemblyfitted to a smoothing head of a grass processing apparatus of the typedisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,267;

FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1, but where each brush roller isretained in the brush roller housing; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an assembled brush roller.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The roller cleaning assembly 10 of the invention, as shown in FIG. 1,includes a smoothing head (or undercarriage) 11, as disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,468,267, which has a steering link 12 for attachment to asteering mechanism (101) of the turf roller of U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,267(100) (see FIG. 2); a spigot 13 for pivotal attachment of the smoothinghead 11 to the frame (102) of the turf roller (100); and idler orsmoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16, which are rotatably journalled onopposed end plates 18 and 19 by fasteners 7, 8 and 9 engaging respectivelongitudinal stub axles (not shown) for each of the idler or smoothingrollers 14, 15 and 16. Suitable bearings (not shown) are attached to theend plates 18 and 19 to facilitate rotation of the idler or smoothingrollers 14, 15 and 16 when they contact the grass or turf to be rolled.

The smoothing head 11 has a body 20, which includes a top plate 21; anda pair of side plates 23, each having a downwardly extending flange 24and beveled portion 24A.

The end plate 19 incorporates an aperture 25, which is complementary inshape to an end plate 26 of the brush roller housing 27, so arrangedthat the brush roller housing 27 may be inserted into a hollow cavity 28in smoothing head 11, as shown in FIGS. 1 & 2.

The brush roller housing 27 includes a pair of elongate slots 29 and 30,which each may accommodate a downwardly extending part of respectivebrush rollers 31 and 32. An intermediate collector section 33 isinterposed intermediate the slots 29 and 30 and also between opposedside collector sections 33A and 33B. Each of collector sections 33, 33Aand 33B comprise an elongate recess or valley as shown by slot 33.

Each brush roller 31 and 32 has a spiral brush 34 attached to anelongate support axle 35, where the spiral brush 34 has substantiallytangentially-extending fibres of “tough” plastics-material. Each supportaxle 35 has an outwardly projecting stub axle 36. Each brush roller 31and 32 also has an annular end part 37.

In use, each of sections 33, 33A and 33B collect debris from brush 34after contact with smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16.

A cover or housing 38, and associated bearing 39, is provided at eachend of the brush rollers 31 and 32. Friction rollers 41 are mounted onthe stub axles 36 of each of the brush rollers 31 and 32. The frictionrollers 41 engage a pin 37 inserted in a hole through the stub axles 36.In use, each of friction rollers 41 engages with an adjoining externalsurface of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16; and therotation of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16, via thefriction drive arrangement 41, causes the brush rollers 31 and 32 torotate and drive each spiral brush 34, where the contact between thespiral brushes and the external surfaces of the idler or smoothingrollers 14, 15 and 16 will result in dirt, grass clippings, grub or mothlarvae and/or eggs being cleaned therefrom and collected in thecollector sections 33, 33A and 33B.

Each of the bearing housings 38 is releasably engagable in a respectiveadjacent retaining aperture or recess 42 in the end plates 26.

Attachment apertures 43 are provided for the location of appropriatefasteners (not shown) for retention of the brush roller housing 27within the hollow cavity 28 of the smoothing head 11.

FIG. 2 shows each brush roller 31 and 32 located in their associatedmounting slots 29 and 30. It will be noted that brush roller 31 may belocated in the recess or valley 44 between adjacent idler or smoothingrollers 15 and 16 and thus be in contact with either, or both, of theserollers. On the other hand, brush roller 32, located in the recess 45,only contacts idler or smoothing roller 14. As the idler or smoothingrollers 14, 15 and 16 are unevenly spaced, the gap between adjacentidler or smoothing rollers 14 and 15 is greater than the correspondinggap between the idler or smoothing rollers 15 and 16. However, it willbe appreciated that the brush rollers 31 or 32 may contact only anadjacent idler or smoothing roller 14, 15 or 16; or an adjacent pair ofthe idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16; as will be required.

In operation, it will be noted that upon rotation of idler or smoothingrollers 14, 15 and 16, due to contact with the grass or turf, the idleror smoothing roller 14 and each of the idler or smoothing rollers 15 and16 will contact the respective friction drive rollers 41 of each of thebrush rollers 31 and 32 to thereby drive each of the brush rollers 31and 32, which clean the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16 inreturn.

It will also be noted that the term “brush” as used herein also includeswithin its scope any appropriate cleaning member that may be used toclean an external surface of a roller such as a layer of felt, fabric orother suitable cleaning implement.

In an alternative embodiment, the spiral brushes 34 may be substitutedby flexible spiral wiper blades 134, as shown in FIG. 3. The spiralwiper blades 134 are preferably formed, e.g. by extrusion, from naturalrubber, synthetic rubber, or “tough” plastics—or other elastomericmaterials; and may incorporate reinforcing cords or fibres (e.g. ofnylon, rayon, carbon or KEVLAR®.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, either, or both, brush rollers 31 and 32may be provided with a spiral wiper blade 134 interposed with the spiralbrush 34; or be provided with two or more interposed spiral brushes 34and 34A or two or more interposed spiral wiper blades 134 and 134A.

The advantages of the present invention include:

(i) the roller cleaning assembly 10 enables the efficient collection ofgrass clippings as well as moth- or grub larvae or eggs, which if lefton the grass or turf, can cause disease;

(ii) the brush roller housing 27 is easily removed from the smoothinghead 11 for cleaning and maintenance (and discharge of the contents ofthe collection sections 33, 33A and 33B);

(iii) the cleaning of the idler or smoothing rollers 14, 15 and 16 iscarried out both quickly and efficiently; and

(iv) the driving mechanism for the brush rollers 31 and 32, usingfriction drive rollers 41, is simple, inexpensive, efficient andreliable, and avoids the use of complicated drive systems using thegearing, the drive motors and/or the hydraulics of the “prior art”arrangements hereinbefore described.

It will also be appreciated that each brush roller 31 and 32 hasapproximately the same length as an adjacent idler roller 14, 15 and 16and is parallel thereto.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodimentsdescribed and illustrated without departing from the present invention,as hereinafter defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A roller cleaning assembly for a roller, or rollers, of a grass processing apparatus of the type having at least one smoothing head, the or each smoothing head having a body with at least one idler or smoothing roller rotatably journalled in a hollow cavity formed in the body, the roller cleaning assembly including: a brush roller housing locatable in the hollow cavity in the body; at least one brush roller rotatably journalled in the brush roller housing and located adjacent at least one of the idler or smoothing rollers and having a similar length to said at least one of the idler or smoothing rollers and oriented parallel thereto; at least one brush or flexible wiper blade extending from the or each brush roller and operable to engage an external surface of the adjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers; and a friction drive system interconnecting the or each brush roller and the adjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers; so arranged that as the or each idler or smoothing roller is rotated as the smoothing head is advanced, the external surface of the or each idler or smoothing roller drives the adjacent brush roller, through the friction drive system, to cause the at least one brush or flexible wiper blade to remove clippings or other waste material from the external surface of the or each idler or smoothing roller or rollers.
 2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the, or each, brush roller extends through a slot in a bottom wall of the brush roller housing; and at least one collector section is provided in the brush roller housing adjacent the slot to receive the clippings or other waste material from the brush roller.
 3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the, or each, collector section comprises an elongate recess or valley in the bottom wall of the brush roller housing.
 4. An assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the, or each, brush or flexible wiper blade, is spirally wound around, or extends elongately along, the brush roller.
 5. An assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein: at least two of the brushes or flexible wiper blades are interposed, and spirally wound around, the brush roller; or at least one brush and one flexible wiper blade are interposed and spirally wound around the brush roller.
 6. An assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the friction drive system includes at least one friction drive roller fixed to at least one end of the brush roller and arranged for frictional driving engagement with the external surface of the adjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers.
 7. An assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein: an end plate of the body of the smoothing head has an aperture; and the brush roller housing is releasably receivable in the aperture to be located in the hollow cavity of the body above the idler or smoothing roller or rollers.
 8. A smoothing head for a grass processing apparatus including: a body with a hollow cavity; at least one idler or smoothing roller rotatably journalled in the hollow cavity and extending below the body; and a roller cleaning assembly, as claimed in claim 1, located in the hollow cavity and operable to clean an external surface of the idler or smoothing roller or rollers.
 9. A head as claimed in claim 8, wherein: at least two of the idler or smoothing rollers are provided in the hollow cavity; and the, or each, brush roller of the roller cleaning assembly is operable to be driven by, and remove clippings or other waste material, from the or each adjacent idler or smoothing roller.
 10. A grass processing apparatus having at least one smoothing head as claimed in claim
 8. 11. A roller cleaning assembly for a roller, or rollers, of a grass processing apparatus of the type having at least one smoothing head, the or each smoothing head having a body with at least one idler or smoothing roller rotatably journalled in a hollow cavity in the body, the roller cleaning assembly including: a brush roller housing locatable in the hollow cavity formed in the body to facilitate removal thereof for maintenance purposes; at least one brush roller rotatably journalled in the brush roller housing and located adjacent at least one of the idler or smoothing rollers and having a similar length to said at least one of the idler or smoothing rollers and oriented parallel thereto; at least one brush or flexible wiper blade extending from the or each brush roller and operable to engage an external surface of the adjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers; and a friction drive system interconnecting the or each brush roller and the adjacent idler or smoothing roller or rollers including at least one friction drive roller fixed to one end of said at least one brush roller and arranged for frictional driving engagement with the external surface of the adjacent idler or smoothing roller(s); so arranged that as the or each idler or smoothing roller is rotated as the smoothing head is advanced, the external surface of the or each idler or smoothing roller drives the adjacent brush roller, through the friction drive system, to cause the at least one brush or flexible wiper blade to remove clippings or other waste material from the external surface of the or each idler or smoothing roller or rollers. 